Departments have until March 15 to train their officers and rewrite their procedures to comply with New Jersey's new Immigrant Trust Directive -- a set of guideline introduced last week by the state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal.

The new rules spell out when and how New Jersey's 36,000 police officers can ask people about their immigration status and severely limit when local police can work with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

"General Grewal's directive, as the state's chief law enforcement officer, crystallizes to all the people of New Jersey that police are not immigration enforcement officers looking for green cards," said Camden County Police Chief J. Scott Thomson, one of the law enforcement officials praising the new rules.

But ICE officials are not happy. They say the new guidelines create a "state-sanctioned haven" for unauthorized immigrants and make it harder for ICE agents to do their job.

Grewal said the new rules apply to civil immigration enforcement and do not limit the ability of state law enforcement officers to work with the Department of Homeland Security on criminal investigations, including those involving criminal organizations such as MS-13.

"Let me be crystal clear about this: If you break the law in New Jersey, we will go after you, no matter your immigration status. No one gets a free pass. And we’ll push back against anyone who tries to mischaracterize our new rules by sowing fear and misinformation,” Grewal said.

1. No asking about immigration status, unless its relevant to an investigation of a serious crime.

The new rules say local and state police can't stop, question, arrest, search or detain an immigrant because they suspect they are living in the U.S. illegally. Police can't ask about immigration status unless they are investigating a serious crime where it is relevant to the alleged offense.

2. No helping ICE with its investigations.

New Jersey police officers can't participate in ICE operations or raids involving civil immigration cases. Local police are also forbidden from giving ICE access to their databases, equipment, office space or other law enforcement resources in those cases.

3. Corrections officers can only hold prisoners for ICE in limited circumstances.

New Jersey correction officers are forbidden from allowing ICE agents to interview people detained on criminal charges unless the detainee had consulted a lawyer and signed a consent form.

New Jersey jails also can't honor an ICE "immigration detainer" -- a request that the jail hold an immigrant until ICE can pick him or her up -- unless the detainee has been charged with or convicted of a serious crime or has a pending deportation order from a judge.

ICE has been feuding with Middlesex County officials for months, saying the county jail is refusing to honor the agency's detainer requests and releasing prisoners who are living in the country illegally. Middlesex officials have said they are following their county policy, which limits when they can hold detainees for ICE.

4. Prosecutors can't discredit witnesses in court based on their immigration status.

New Jersey prosecutors are forbidden from saying witnesses in court lack credibility because they are immigrants living in the country illegally.

Prosecutors also can't ask a judge to hold someone charged with a crime in jail before a trial solely because they are unauthorized immigrants.